Lorraine Clifford Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is welcome to the Chamber. Last week, Assistant Garda Commissioner Pat Leahy confirmed at a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts that Rush Garda station was on the list of six stations that were to be recommended to the Government for reopening. I welcome this decision. Rush Garda station's closure in 2012 has had an adverse impact on the local community. Rush is a town with a population of 10,000 people and is growing rapidly.

The Government announced a re-examination of closed Garda stations. When I tabled a Commencement matter in March regarding the need to reopen Rush station, I was told that a report would go to the Minister at the end of May. In July, it was announced to much fanfare that Stepaside Garda station would reopen and that five other stations were listed in an interim report. Various unconfirmed reports at the time placed Rush as one of the five. We in north County Dublin were happy with that, but it has taken until November for the final report to be sent to the Government.

While the reopening is welcome, there is a fear across north County Dublin that this is a false dawn. That is why I am calling on the Minister of State to give a clear timeframe for the station's reopening. Remedial works will have to be completed. Vehicles and ICT equipment must be provided. Most importantly, extra gardaí will have to be allocated to the station. There is a severe shortage of gardaí in Fingal, the fastest growing county council area in Ireland. There are 177 gardaí in its division at any one time, taking into consideration sick leave, maternity leave, UN duty and so on. That is not enough. We must ensure that, instead of these gardaí being reassigned to Rush, more gardaí must be put in place so that Rush Garda station can be reopened without a decrease of service across the division.

Assistant Commissioner Leahy stated last week that he would have preferred to allocate extra gardaí to stations other than Stepaside. Will that be the case with Rush? Will the Minister of State give the people of Rush guarantees regarding the timeframe, whether the reopening will be fast-tracked and prioritised and whether Rush will receive the necessary resources, thereby ensuring that the station will reopen without further delay? When will this station have its doors open and when will it serve the people of Rush again? When will the extra gardaí be assigned as opposed to merely being redistributed from within the division?